I love aimless walks in the park, but some of my favorite walks involve trips to local restaurants or ice cream shops. It's about a 20 minute walk from my house to somewhere with decent food - just enough time to build up an appetite, but far enough that I sometimes (OK, often) get lazy and ask a friend to drive me home.
Walk Score is site that determines "the walkability of an address by locating nearby stores, restaurants, schools, parks, etc." According to Walk Score, our house has a rank of 52: "Some stores and amenities are within walking distance, but many everyday trips still require a bike, public transportation, or car." That sounds about right.
Walk Score, however, does admit that their model isn't perfect. They don't take walking paths into account or safety of the streets. Clearly, you need to try to walk places to know for sure how walkable a place is, but Walk Score is a good starting point.
What's your score? Do you agree with it? Do you take advantage of food you can walk to?
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-05-2008 @ 1:06PM
growler said...
My score is a measly 100.
Yeah, I'm spoiled.
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5-05-2008 @ 1:24PM
GL said...
71
That seems about right.
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5-05-2008 @ 1:25PM
Alex said...
My score is 23. Awesome. However, like the post mentions, the site doesn't take into account things like sidewalks and traffic, so my walking score is really 0, if you value your life.
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5-05-2008 @ 1:36PM
Paul said...
94.
Yesterday we walked to REI to buy new running shoes, then to the movies and on our way home stopped at Whole Foods to pick up what we needed for a thai dinner.
Paul
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5-05-2008 @ 1:46PM
R. P. McMurphy said...
51 out of 100 in suburban central, NJ.
I love my town. Great ethic foods, old fashion Main St.
http://randallpmcmurphy.blogspot.com
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5-05-2008 @ 1:56PM
Ian said...
Center of a major European city only netted me a 77, the store directories might not be through for all areas :)
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5-05-2008 @ 1:59PM
kassie said...
My house got an 82 out of 100. I don't know what the neighborhood needs for a higher score? We have pretty much everything imagineable within 1 mile, except maybe an REI, yet it is only an 82? Bah.
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5-05-2008 @ 2:07PM
aggie_ga said...
Ouch. I'm moving this month from my current apartment (rated 72) to a duplex that is rated 7. I guess my evening walks to pick up dinner are history.
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5-05-2008 @ 4:03PM
Kristi said...
Mine was listed as a 34, but it's completely bogus. For restaurants, it picked up a place that's right across from our neighborhood whose sign advertises "grill and catering", but they're never open, so I'm guessing they're more "catering" than "grill". The grocery store listed is a "convenient food mart" (which is smaller than the QuickTrip I believe--I've never been inside--doesn't look like a place I'd want to buy food from). A bookstore is listed, but appears to be the corporate office for a medical supply place. The "walkable" library is also a corporate headquarters, as is the drugstore (that one is actually listed as the corporate headquarters of a local grocery chain). I live on the edge between a suburban-type residential area, and a big commercial/light industrial business area. And none of it is pedestrian friendly.
If I had to rate our neighborhood, I'd put us in the low teens, tops. We have a nice park nearby, a couple of schools (an elementary and the JR high are easy walks), and a few other tiny places, but really, you have to have a car. By car, we're within 10 minutes of any kind of shopping you want, and at least 3 different major highways, and the airport.
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5-05-2008 @ 4:15PM
Mathi said...
My location is about 1/4 mile up the road from a major downtown street. I am within 1 mile of anything I could need, and 3 miles of a dozen libraries, several grocery stores (including whole foods) and other things, and it all has sidewalks and crossing lights. We walk almost everywhere when it isn't raining.
Still our place is only listed at a 68. Would probably be higher if I actually lived in one of those central high-rise apartments...but that would suck.
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5-05-2008 @ 4:29PM
Michiel said...
I got 51 but it can't be right. It lists the nearest bookstore as being over 25 miles away while it is only a brisk 10-minute walk past 17th century canals and cobblestone streets. And I walk everywhere. But perhaps information is less than accurate for smaller European cities.
I really like the idea though. Walking is important. It's healthy, environmentally friendly and cheap.
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5-05-2008 @ 4:50PM
Beth said...
I got a 37. I mean, I guess I could walk across-ish the street to the grocery store, but I'd be crossing 6 lanes of traffic and facing drives who don't pay attention to other cars, let alone people. But I can't complain, I'm less than 10 minutes from everything including a bustling college town full of new restaurants and stores.
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5-05-2008 @ 7:23PM
Ariel said...
where i lived last week: 91
where i live today: 75
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5-05-2008 @ 10:44PM
other Beth said...
My score was 85, in a small rural town in the southwestern US. Everything in town is within 2/3 of a mile. The upside is that most necessities are within walking distance; the downside is, if you *can't* find something in town, it's probably a 50-plus-mile to get it.
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5-06-2008 @ 1:40PM
stacey said...
Mine was 0. No surprise, I live in the boonies. It doens't appear to look at the roads though. It says there is a coffee shop 5 miles from me, which there is, as the crow flies - but not how the roads run. It's more like 12 by the time I have backtracked out to the main road & then driven to the connection road. I did find a cool organic farm near me I didn't know about though
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